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Friday, June 17, 2011

After Billy's birthday and baptism, the fun continued with Mother's day, Bill's birthday, and our 16th wedding anniversary, boy time flies. Then we were busy with the end of school stuff, band concerts, kindergarten program, oh and the fun of driver's ed every day after school for Cheyenne. By then Chloe, Maddie, and Jon's birthday was rapidly approaching. This brought up a lot of debate and question regarding how to handle their birthday. Do we have 3 seperate parties, a boy party and a girl party, do it all on one day or celebrate on different days, and more. We finally decided to be very brave and do one big party, inviting their whole kindergarten class! What was I thinking?!

So we decided on a carnival theme, fun for both boys and girls. We did a lot of planning and prep, and then called in more help. We had my parents and Bill's parents, my niece and nephew's - Ashtyn, Rhett, and Kade, and Cheyenne, Natalie, Bill, all manning the games. I moved the kids from game to game, took pictures and laughed a lot. We ended up only having 9 kids come, including our 3, but that was the perfect number. We were a little worried about the weather, again, as the big black clouds moved in and out all day. But the weather held out and the kids had a blast, I think. After the kids all went home, the rest of us relaxed, enjoyed a pop and then the rain started.

This pinata WOULD NOT BREAK! Every kid took a turn or two at it, then they all grabbed hold of a string to pull it open, and it still wouldn't open. So Natalie took matters into her own hands and got a metal bat and went at it. Nothing. Finally we just dropped it on the ground and Cheyenne ripped it open, and she had to work at it. That was one tough clown head! :)

The next day the kids enjoyed being sang to in primary and getting their own bags of popcorn. Then we had some pizza for lunch, and another party with the family later that night. When 3 kids have a birthday at the same time, it's like Christmas all over again, paper and presents everywhere. It's a lot of fun! We're sure lucky to have three such wonderful kiddos in our family.

Thursday, June 9, 2011

Well, it's been a long time since I've posted, life happens. Now I'm back and committed to posting more regularly. Birthday season, the time at which we have 5 out of our 8 birthdays, plus few other special occasions, at our house is always a little crazy, but a lot of fun. This year we had some extra things thrown in there which were fun, but the age for birthday parties collided this year and we also had two parties, which was crazy.

So the birthday season began with Easter this year and all the fun of that. Then the following Friday was Billy's birthday. We had a family party on Friday and he was showered with gifts. He got lots of legos, tickets to a movie, and lots of other fun things, but the best was a in a card from Mr. Reece (Bill's boss). It was a whoopee cushion! The present opening came to a halt as he farted it over and over again, making everyone else there laugh and laugh as Billy was dying over how funny it was. Who new the best present would be something so simple.

The next day was the big party. Billy decided on an army theme. The boys were told to wear camo, and I made dog tags for all of them. The weather was supposed to be cold and rainy, so at the last minute we did some changes and the party was all moved in the house. We started with "flight school" and everyone made/decorated paper airplanes while everyone arrived. Then we did some calisthenics Simon Says and then marched the boys upstairs. Bill was awesome and constructed a whole shooting range in the bonus room. The boys had a great time shooting down cups or the targets on Winnie the Pooh.

After the shooting range, we had a "rescue mission" (treasure hunt) in which they ran all over the house and finally outside to rescue lost soldiers (little bags of army men and a parachuter guy.) The sun was actually shining then, and almost warmish, so they played outside for a few minutes. We finished up with presents and cupcakes and a little more shooting while waiting for parents to come. As the last boy left, we all gave a big sigh of relief as having survived 8, 8 yr. old boys. Billy had a great time, though, and that was the most important thing.

Since this was such an important birthday, the fun wasn't over yet. The next Saturday, Billy was baptized a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He had lots of family there, both sets of grandparents, Uncle Shaun, Aunt Alana, and Chase, and cousin Ashtyn (it was her birthday, too.) Uncle Shaun gave a wonderful talk on the Holy Ghost. He told Billy that he was given lots of presents for his birthday and that each person thought about Billy and just what he'd want to receive. He told him that Heavenly Father did the same thing and gave him the most special gift of all. Shaun is just the best, he always does such a good job speaking! Then afterward, we had everyone over for a little luncheon. It was a great day! I asked Billy how he felt and he said, "Warm." I said, "What does that mean, warm inside or warm outside?" He replied, "Both. The water was really warm, but I felt warm on the inside, too." Of course that was said with his little twinkly, dimple grin. I love this boy!